War Threats Peace

War Threats Peace

War and peace are terms that have been synonimized in today’s world due to the trend started by Adolph Hitler by starting the First World War. As the world moved from that episode, a second world war was started. After that there have been numerous wars that have been fought the world over, including civilian strife.

As many people as there are who are the proponents of peace, there would still be many who would tell you that war is important. There would be many reasons given by them for this laughable statement. Even in the non-civilized worlds, wars either used to be carried out for looting, plundering and pillaging or self-defense but nowadays a new trend has come to the fore, that of pre-emptive strikes: to strike the enemy in self-defense but without any provocation. That is what America is doing in Iraq.

Then there are wars that are fought for land that rightfully belongs to the races settled on that land. The finest examples would be Palestine and Kashmir.

The world has made at least some phony efforts at peace by making first the League of Nations and then United Nations. However, nowadays, even the United Nations fails to bring peace to war ravaged nations as it has become a puppet organization in the hands of its biggest member countries who are always either ready to veto peace moves or themselves be aggravators. Russia has been doing this in Chechnya for more than a decade now.

What a shame it is that today, peace has no value. It is fast becoming a term just for philosophers and academics. A term just found in books and not in the world we live in. Where there is war, there is only talk of peace and then even that disappears. There are white doves but no moves for peace.

Of all the wars that have been fought, there is seldom peace in the end. Wars might be fought for any reason, from regime change to no reasons at all. However, not only does a war have a human cost but also costs for the aggressor. Look at Afghanistan today. The USSR started the war in Afghanistan and it did not end but it was reduced from a cold war superpower to many of its component states. Then the civil war continued there for another decade until the Americans struck in the name of war on terror. Thus, the war in Afghanistan still goes on. Not only have many Afghans and many Americans lost lives but it is also costing billions to the Americans when they have started an offensive in Iraq also.

Evident from the Iraq chapter is another bitter truth for the world to see in light of all the examples given to us by history. That even this war might never end and even if it does, there would be no peace. In fact, there would be bitterness and resentment among the people against whom this atrocious crime of aggression has been carried out in the name of pre-emption, right in front of the very eyes of the world rather too blatantly.

If the world leaders and peace bodies keep quiet about these things, that day will not be far off when countries would be attacking each other on no premises at all. War would become the norm and they would be fought long and hard because weapons are as readily available to the aggressors as to the aggressed.

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Thursday October 02, 2003

I wrote this as an essay-speech for my friend Shehryar, who had promised someone to write her a speech. It later went on to win the first prize in the speech competition. I don't know this really well but if I'm not wrong, she was first among all the schools of the whole province. I was a bit flattered and also embarrassed *lol* I always get embarrassed and start blushing when something nice involving me happens and I think the same happens when there aren't many things nice. (:

Shehryar told me that the girl was thanking the person who wrote it for her. For me that would've been enough but it's always nice to know that something you did went an extra mile or two to make someone happy (in this case, by winning the first prize... hooray!). I think I was happier than anyone to make a few people happy.

The text of the essay is unmodified here. Sherry made some minor changes in it. He added a few lines about Kashmir. Of course I always agree with Shakespeare that, "Brevity is the soul of wit" and would continue to do so. :P

There's one thing that needs to be added to the essay though. People on all sides of a war suffer. The human toll is the biggest loss. I seriously doubt that a person who loses a family member would think about economy or gas prices or things like that (though in the long term one has to forget the human loss and concentrate on economy) and say it's all right because this might help me. We do tend to put invisible band aids on the marks left by the loss of someone close but they're always there for us to see. To remind us of our losses. Wars cripple people's hearts. They take away innocence. They make people vengeful and bitter. These are some of the reasons why I hate wars but most of all I hate them because I was watching Fahrenheit 9/11 and my heart was going out to the Lila Lipscombe who lost her son to the war. My heart went out to the woman whose whole family was obliterated. My heart went out to the whole world in those moments. I remember when the planes were shown crashing into the Twin Towers. I remember how I had cried. Must the innocent be punished for the sins of a few? That question now repeats itself in my head again. It was 2001 then and 2004 now. Nothing seems to have changed.

Yes. I still hate war. Maybe, more.